Pokémon Sword And Shield Expansion Packs: 10 Features Fans Demand
9. GTS
The Global Trade Station is frustrating. It's been a defining characteristic of Pokémon games for the last few generations now, and it's hidden behind Pokémon Home to entice both mobile downloads and premium plan purchases.
The GTS is the easiest way to ask for the pesky creatures that are either in the other game or have simply avoided capture for too long. The Pokedex is filled up largely due to the collective efforts of the bartering system of trading Pokémon for each other.
The way it works is simple. A trainer puts their Pokemon up on the market and asks for one in return-- with some specificity available like a level range or what gender. A trainer can also look up a specific Pokémon that they want and see what trades are available. But even the simplicity of the GTS is undermined by the fact that a mobile download of Pokémon Home is required. The free version allows one Pokémon to be put in the portal, and the premium allows up to three.
The in-game Y-Comm is only useful enough for max raid battles. It's a flawed system to see if a random trainer wants to trade or if the player wants to test their luck through the surprise trade. Engaging in random battles works fine, but it's easy to see where improvements could be made like by bringing the GTS over to the main game for free.
The greed of Game Freak is poking through, and this writer isn't happy about it.